Transplant Drug Used To Clear Up Psoriasis

December 12, 1986|By United Press International

CHICAGO — Cyclosporine, a drug that has revolutionized organ transplants, also appears to clear up psoriasis and may lead to treatment for millions with other skin disorders, researchers said Thursday.

The anti-rejection drug is an exciting find for dermatologists not only because it quickly and effectively eliminates the itchy, scaly patches of skin that characterize psoriasis, but also because it may lead to new understanding about the disease, said Dr. Charles Ellis, of the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor.

''This has opened an entirely new avenue of research and may open quite a few doors to new, and better, treatments for all sorts of skin disorders,'' Ellis said.

''We need to study this further, and right now I could only justify giving cyclosporine to the most serious cases,'' Ellis said. ''But we're very excited.''

The chronic disease afflicts 3 million Americans who suffer from irritated, itchy and unsightly reddish areas that are created when skin cells reproduce too quickly and accumulate.

Psoriasis has no permanent cure and can be life-threatening if it covers enough of the body and interferes with temperature regulation.

A number of treatments for psoriasis are available, and fish oil and a form of vitamin D have shown some promise in treating the disease. But none work as quickly or as effectively as cyclosporine, Ellis said.

''Some patients within 24 hours could detect something was happening,'' he said. ''And one patient totally cleared within seven days, which is unheard of, really.''

Ellis and his colleagues became curious about cyclosporine after several reports of psoriasis clearing in patients taking the drug for other reasons. Cyclosporine is a powerful suppressor of the body's immune system, and has allowed organ transplants to proliferate by reducing the chance of tissue rejection.

The researchers, reporting in the Journal of the American Medical Association, gave oral doses of cyclosporine to 21 patients for four weeks and found significant clearing in all but one. Seventeen of the patients had a more than 50 percent reduction in psoriasis, and five cleared completely.

Cyclosporine can have some serious side effects when used for long periods of time, including damaged kidney function and an increased risk of developing some cancers.